Dimitris Kontogeorgos, founder of Greek online travel agent (OTA) airtickets.gr, on Thursday said that the Tripsta Group failed to protect airticket’s operation and reputation.

Kontogeorgos’ statement follows the Tripsta/airtickets.gr decision in late June to suspend the issuance of new airline tickets due to “a massive liquidity problem”, which made it “impossible to continue functioning properly” and fulfill its obligations to airline companies.

Tripsta SA, which also operates the travelplanet24 brand, merged with airtickets.gr in 2015 in an aim to become the largest OTA in South East Europe and Greece’s largest travel company.

According to Mr. Kontogeorgos, the financial problems of the Tripsta Group have been mistakenly linked to airtickets.gr, an OTA that “has been established over the years through the trust of its customers”.

Kontogeorgos underlined that airtickets.gr has been profitable during all its years, both before and after its acquisition by the Tripsta Group. In order to support his statement, Kontogeorgos released the 2015-2016 balance sheets of airtickets.gr. *

The announcement also mentions that Kontogeorgos remained honorary president of Airtickets SA until September 2016, after its total acquisition by Tripsta SA in March 2015, without him ever serving as president of the (Tripsta) Group.

“airtickets.gr has been successfully operating since 2000 in the Greek market as a leading Greek company in online bookings,” Kontogeorgos said, adding that he will support every effort to keep the company afloat. [It is noted that the articles of GTP Headlines regarding the issue have received comments from many readers stating that airline tickets they had purchased through the OTA (Tripsta/airtickets) were canceled without their consent and that efforts to contact the company, to claim refunds, have not been successful.]

* Editor’s note: Questions are raised on how a healthy company, such as airtickets.gr, agreed to be acquired by a company (in this case Tripsta), which was audited on July 20, 2016, for the 2015 fiscal year and the auditor had raised a “going concern” issue. According to the auditor, Tripsta’s net assets were negative and below the threshold of Company Law 2190/1920 art. 48, and the company’s current ratio was below 1 (current liabilities much higher than current receivables). The auditor expressed serious doubts for the continuity of Tripsta’s business.

About the Author

Nikos is Greek-American born in New York, USA, and has lived in Greece for over 30 years. He is the managing editor of Greece's leading monthly travel and tourism guide, the Greek Travel Pages (GTP) since June 2008 and of news site GTP Headlines since its launch in September 2012. Nikos has also served as international press officer for the City of Athens and for the mayor. He has a degree in Mass Media and Communications, specializing in Journalism. Nikos is a native English speaker and speaks Greek fluently.

4 Comments

Hello,
I’m in this exact situation too. I made a booking in April, and it was cancelled by tripsta. They just sent me an email to explain that I had to contact the airline for refunding but they already refunded tripsta and can nothing for me.
Did you find a solution ? Thank you in advance, Cécile

I am in the exact same situation – going to the airport and being told that my ticket has been cancelled. I had to buy a list minute ticket that cost me a fortune and obviously, Tripsta is impossible to contact.
Any advice on how to take legal action? Is there a law firm already looking at this case for a class action? Many thanks in advance, Lea Rocher

I can only advise you to consider taking legal action against the company. They probably refunded your tickets in order to acquire the amount of money or use the balance towards the their debt.
Call the airline and ask them to cancel refund (if possible) and revalidate the ticket to take over for you

I’m in this exact situation. I made a booking months ago and it was cancelled this evening, without a warning, my authorization or an explanation. The flights still exist, which makes it even more unacceptable. Worst of all, I was told to contact the airline for refunding, and I did, but I was told that they were the one to cancel the flight and asked for a refund, so I had to see it with them directly. Problem is that they won’t reply to me by any of their contact forms, telephone numbers, emails, and so on. Please, let me know if any solution comes out!

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